All Work, All Play

When the late Studs Terkel published “Working,” in 1974, oral histories had yet to become old hat. Indeed, it was Terkel, an author and radio host, who helped popularize the form. As the James T. Farrell of the tape recorder, Terkel, born in New York City to Russian Jewish parents and raised in Chicago, not only described the injured and the insulted, he glorified those forgotten faces—enlisted men, workers—who made the America he loved and criticized with a passion. In 1977, the “Godspell” lyricist Stephen Schwartz, working with a number of other writers, including the gifted Micki Grant, opened a musical version of “Working” in Chicago; less than a year later, it had a short Broadway run, which starred young up-and-comers such as Patti LuPone, David Patrick Kelly, and Lynne Thigpen. On Dec. 12, the energetic director Gordon Greenberg’s version of the show, with additional songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, opens at 59E59, and just in time. Wouldn’t you say that the American worker deserves a leg up, if not a little entertainment? ♦

Hilton Als, The New Yorker’s theatre critic, has been a staff writer since 1994. He is the author of “White Girls.”

The agent’s dismissal gives the appearance that the agency buckled under political pressure, and sets a highly disturbing precedent.

Asian-Americans, a largely made-up group united by historical marginalization, are desperate for a movie like this one to be perfect, because the opportunity to make another might not arrive for another quarter century.